The invention relates to outdoor wooden furniture, and in particular to a leg base or foot or boot, on the lower end of each leg, to act as a skid or a sort of xe2x80x9csledxe2x80x9d and/or sometimes as a protector for permitting easy sliding of the furniture without damage to the lawn or other substrate, while preventing splitting of the end grain of the legs, and also for reducing or preventing rotting of the lower ends of the legs of outdoor furniture due to standing in damp or wet conditions on a lawn or beach, or other substrate.
Wooden furniture is often used and left standing outdoors. Usually such furniture is left on a lawn or beach for example. A lawn is moist in almost all conditions, as a result of weather conditions, watering, and of course the dew which forms overnight. In these conditions the lower ends of the legs are often permanently damp or even standing in pools of moisture.
Wood is easily rotted in these conditions. The lower ends of the legs are xe2x80x9cend grainxe2x80x9d lumber, which causes wicking of moisture up into the leg. Due to wood rot such furniture will have a relatively short useful life, and will soon have to be thrown away and replaced. Attempts have been made to treat such wood products with chemical rot proofing compounds. Most of such compounds have a content of arsenic, which is a hazardous and contaminant material. It is now found the arsenic leaches from the wood and forms toxic contamination of the environment. It is now preferable to make outdoor furniture such a tables and chairs out of untreated lumber such as spruce or cedar. Accordingly these solutions are now avoided where possible. This is so whether such treatment is so-called pressure treated or is simply applied by dipping or spraying. Even when so treated, the legs will rot out quickly when left standing in moisture, leaving no alternative but to replace the furniture. The legs are cut from stock lengths of lumber and when cut this exposes the interior of the lumber which is in any case untreated, so the pressure treatment of other treatment is ineffective in the very area where it would be most needed namely the lowers ends of the legs.
This is both wasteful of resources and also unnecessarily expensive.
The upper portions of the furniture out last the legs by many seasons, due to the free air circulation, and suns ray, around them, ensuring that they dry out and do not stand in moist conditions.
However unless replaced before it falls apart such furniture can be dangerous. Another problem with this type of furniture, whether it be wooden chairs or tables or the like, is that it forms an obstruction on a lawn or beach. A lawn will have to be mowed regularly. A beach may require raking or some type of maintenance. Wherever such furniture is used it will have to be moved around from time to time if only to rearrange its grouping.
For this type of situation, wooden furniture must be dragged around into a new grouping or a new position, or even in some cases simply removed to permit a thorough job to be done. Ideally moving such furniture is a two person job. However in many cases there is no chance to wait for a second person to come and assist. Moving the furniture is thus usually done by the person mowing the lawn, alone.
Functions as simple as merely moving the furniture to relocate it from one place to another, poses problems with this type of wooden furniture. The legs frequently dig in to the lawn and tear up the turf. On a beach the legs may sink in making it impossible to drag around. As the legs are dragged they act like a plow digging up turf and beach. Also, as the legs are dragged, the load on for example two legs being dragged is now doubled compared with the load on four legs. As a result organic material is forced up into the end grain causing still further rotting. On a deck or patio the legs may catch in decking, or on flagstones and the like.
Dragging such furniture over flagstones may easily dislodge the flagstones and disturb the surface of the patio.
Also the act of dragging such furniture strains the legs. The racking of the legs in this way can loosen the fastenings in the entire piece of furniture. Over time the fastening of the legs, and also the table top, seats or the like of the furniture becomes loose. It is then unsafe. This adds still further to the need for regular replacement.
With a view to satisfying the foregoing objectives the invention in one aspect comprises a leg base for outdoor furniture for fitting on the end of a leg and acting as a boot to permit sliding of the leg and to protect it from damage, and having a wall structure shaped to embrace the leg around its end, a floor secured to said wall structure and, a generally convex lower surface formed on said floor, for standing on a substrate.
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with more particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its use, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated and described preferred embodiments of the invention.